Del opened the door to her uptown apartment. She had to be woken by the cabbie, having had fallen asleep in his cab. Stumbling though the door, she turned and locked it. First the deadbolt, then the chain, and last the cross bar. She felt like ass. Gazing in the hall mirror she admitted that she looked it as well.
The 'fresher was just a few steps away. Inside she splashed water on her face to remove what little makeup she had put on earlier. Looking into the mirror reviled the dark bags under her eyes that had been concealed by her makeup. Pausing, Del took a moment to concentrate. Her suit melded with her body and sank below her skin.She opened up the mirror and dug through the medicine cabinet. She found the Drum easily enough, and closed the mirror. Ejecting the spent 'Noise vial, she popped the Drum into the auto-injector. She raised it toward her neck, stopping short when she saw him in the mirror behind her.
The Brain Waster was taller than her and slightly broader in the shoulders. His char marks started at the lower jaw and crept up his face to his nonexistent eyes. They continued past his eyes, over his forehead and into his hairline. His hair was a stringy mass, blue in color, which held two black streaks where the charring met his hair. A Karma duster enveloped his body and hid any suggestion of a Deathsuit.
Del shrieked and spun, the auto-injector leading the way around. The injector passed harmlessly through nothing at all. Losing her footing on the tile, she landed with a thump on the floor, earning a nasty knot as her head slammed into the sink. She tried sitting up, but the pain in her head prevented that. She raised the injector to her neck again and triggered it four times. She cared not if she overdosed, only wanting one night's sleep. Unconsciousness swept over her.
Teserak stepped from the shower and knelt down beside the sleeping woman. As he did, he faded back into view. He had to work quickly or the massive cocktail of drugs she had taken would ensure she never woke again. That wouldn't do.
His hands covered her neck at the site of the injections. Energy flowed from his fingertips and into her body, chasing down the serum that coursed though her veins. He nullified all but one dose of the Drum and turned his attention to the last shot of 'Noise she had taken outside her door way.
As he worked on her neck, he produce a circlet from within his duster. He drew his hands from her neck and passed the circlet from one set of hands to the other. He studied the jewels that encrusted the silver circlet. Inside each jewel was a small shadow. Dream Demons they were called and nasty little things they were indeed.
He reached out with an empty hand to tap on her forehead. A similar circlet came into being which he promptly removed. He examined the second one to ensure its treasures were safely inside. Satisfied, he tucked it into an inner pocket and placed the new one on her head. He ran a finger across each jewel and then tapped the circlet. As he stood up the circlet disappeared. No one but the one who placed it would be able to find it. He would have to do this all over in a week. But, that was part of the fun of it all.
Checking her breathing, he was satisfied that she would live. He left her in the cramped little wash room and proceeded to the main room of the apartment. His was to be the first watch. He would control the demons at first. Others would come through out the night and take their turns with her dreaming mind.
Teserak sat in an overstuffed chair, leaning his head back against the wall. His family waited in the shadows of his own mind. Waited for the next story he was to tell using the sleeping Ebons mind as his storybook. He didn't worry about the effects of his aura lingering in the apartment. Skreej would wipe all traces of his occupation at the end of the night. His eyes closed and he reached for the Delidona's mind.
Delidona sat in a park under the glass dome that marked Meny. This island paradise was home to Mort's last indigenous wildlife, and she spent as much time as she dared away from her studies and in the parks that blanketed the city.
She lay on her back, propped up on her elbows. A slight breeze stirred her hair and the flowers she lay on. A tiny bird flew about her, hovering at each flower to sip at its sweet nectar. Del bowed her head to sniff at one of the flowers that the bird has just left. She smiled as the scent filled her nose
Seeing such a banquet before it, the tiny flower smiled back at the Ebon. Then bit into her upper lip. She jerked back, bringing a hand to her mouth. Drawing the hand away showed a small amount of blood on her fingertips. The flower was licking her blood from it lips.
Her body burst into pain as all around her the small flowers buried their teeth into her flesh. She screamed and jumped up, pulling several of the vicious little plants out of the ground. Their death screams pummeled her senses as she raced from the park. Many of the flowers in her path attempted to trip the fleeing Ebon girl, only to be uprooted themselves or die under her boots.
Del ran, screaming for help from the other students who walked the streets. All of them just turn toward her, pointed, and laughed as she ran on. They all saw the tiny green bird that chased her down the street. Saw the stunning white light glint off its razor sharp beak as it dove at her, slicing her skin open. She ran on.
She turned into an alley and slammed into a wall that wasn't there an instant before. The wall, taking offense to being hit, folded itself in half and hit her back. Knocked on her backside, Del scrambled back out of the alley. She narrowly avoided being crushed as a Hammer APC rumbled past.
It was then she noticed the rain. Sludge actually. She was in lower Downtown and felt what passes for rain down here ooze into her hair. She looked up and down the street trying to find out where she was. There, under a street lamp, a sign.
**When did they fix the-**
Every light on the street blew, leaving the thought unfinished and Delidona in the dark. She took a step toward the sign and was knocked from her feet again as an enormous duracrete fist slammed into the sidewalk where she had been standing. She had forgotten about the wall she had run into.
The wall, just like any other wall, only wanted an apology for having been rudely awoken. Not receiving one from the woman that woke it up, it had decided to beat one out of her. Del rolled to her left, avoiding the wall's foot as it descended. She scrambled to her feet and flew down the walkway, scattering a pack of gangers who had gathered to watch the commotion. Wall followed with all the speed it could muster, crushing one of the gangers beneath its feet.
From a few levels above her came the sounds of a gun battle. Del slowed her pace, looking for a way up. Behind her came the pounding footsteps of the wall. She rounded a corner and poured on speed. Across the street she made out a fire escape down another alley. Hope rose within her as she made for it.
Small hands grasped the bottom wrung of the ladder. Del hoisted herself up to the first landing of the rickety fire escape. Placing her back against the wall she froze in place. The pounding of the wall's footsteps drew closer and she saw it enter the alley.
It thumped down the alley searching for the little woman that had disturbed its sleep. The piles of trash scattered about the walls feet as it advanced. It peered into an over-full trash dumpster. Not seeing its quarry inside, the wall picked the dumpster up and threw it back over its shoulder. The dumpster sailed through the air and came to rest out in the street, crushing two more gangers that had come to watch. The wall then continued further into the alley.
Feeling she was safe for the moment, Del started climbing the metal stairs leading up. Her boots clanged upon the metal of the fire escape and drew the attention of the three remaining gangers below her on the street. They yelled out to the wall and pointed up to the side of the building. It followed their gestures and noticed the woman who didn't want to say she was sorry getting away from it.
It rampaged back toward the mouth of the alley as Del scrambled to get to the next level. When it came to the bottom of the fire escape, the wall stopped and grabbed it. It started violently shaking the fire escape, trying to bring down the little woman.
Del, about to loose her footing, jumped for an open window on the other side of the alley. She misjudged the distance and slammed into the duracrete, managing to catch the sill of the window. The wall continued to shake the fire escape, hoping to rip a big enough piece off to swat her with.
A small bird, its wings tired from chasing the flower slayer, landed upon the sill next to Delidona's fingers. It had watched as the woman had hit the wall for no reason. The bird decided to help out the wall the only way it knew how. It drove its beak into a finger of the hanging woman. Hopping to another finger, it did so again. The little bird repeated this process for each gasping finger. When it was done, it started over again.
Below, Del's hands blazed in agony. The bird was flaying the flesh from her bones and she would drop any second. It seemed her hands were aflame as the pain started to cover her wrists. She cried out as she slipped from the sill. Curling up, she tried to position herself to distribute the impact across her entire body.
The wall stopped its work at the fire escape when it heard the scream. It looked up and saw the falling woman. Now, the wall was several centuries old and this sight reminded it of a game some of the kids used to play. The children would hit a small ball with their hand and bounce it off of the wall. The wall had so enjoyed this game, listening to the children laughing as they scrambled after the ball to whack it back at the wall. Yet, the wall had never gotten a chance to play this game, as the children would take their ball with them when their parents would call. Now it would seem the wall had its chance. It had a hand and it would seem a ball was falling toward the ground, just begging to be whacked.
Delidona's entire body burst into pain as her ears were filled with a sickening 'Thu-whack'. She burst out of the alley, flying as a rag doll tossed by a child. She flew straight at the only functioning light on the street. The one brilliant, white light in the darkness...
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